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A New Brand of African-American Activism at Historically Black Colleges

Around the country, Historically Black Colleges and Universities are seeing a historic increase in applications. Much of this is driven by the desire of young black people to attend colleges where they are not defined by their race and where they will not have to confront racism. Nina Robinson and Ruddy Roye use Morehouse and Spelman colleges and Clark Atlanta University, which share a campus and have produced black leaders for generations, as the setting to explore how young black people are experiencing race today. They’ll set this against the backdrop of Atlanta, where black homeownership and businesses are faring much better than in most of the country. April 2018 is the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s assassination. King was a native of Atlanta, attended Morehouse College, and led a Baptist church there.

This story features in National Geographic magazine’s April 2018 issue focused on race. Photographer Ruddy Roye is focusing on the all-male campus of Morehouse College and Nina Robinson is focusing on Clark Atlanta University and Spelman College, an all-female campus. This is Nina’s first story for National Geographic magazine and Ruddy’s second.

Robinson and Ruddy Roye's project explores the reasons for historically black colleges and universities' historic increase in applications and how young African Americans people experience race in America.

Andrea Bruce, 2018 Pulitzer Center-CatchLight fellow, joins in one of three discussions. The segment she participates in is called "Fellowship for Change - Open Call: The power of photography for social change."